• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.197-211
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• 2018

This is an exploratory study on the status of the social work field practicum at a cyber university. The purpose is to investigate the current situation and improvement plan of the social work field practicum. A qualitative analysis was conducted with 11 professors who have instructed the social work field practicum at cyber universities. The social work field practicum based on the experiences of the professors is investigated, and this paper analyzes the status according to students, schools, practitioners, and institutions. In order to improve the quality of the social work field practicum, factors for improvement were analyzed through the efforts of students, schools, the Korean social workers' association, institutional improvements, and social welfare instructors. The results of the study are as follows. Students, schools, and training organizations should recognize the importance of the social work field practicum and must strive for systematic and consistent education. It is also important to remember that a social worker is not a professional with simple qualifications, but an expert with a philosophy, values, and ideologies. The direction for improvement in the social work field practicum is as follows. When constructing a social welfare curriculum, the school should have a realistic curriculum and teaching method that can enhance the sense of the field. The student should not be qualified as a social worker only as a vague investment for the future, but should have the professional ability to serve clients as a social worker and to give professional help to clients, considering the best welfare service for human beings. Institutions should provide a place for students to integrate theory and practice in vital social welfare experiences as social workers. The Republic of Korea is now facing an age with one million social workers. In order to open the future of social welfare in Korea, we need united endeavors with government that can develop students as pre-social workers and establish universities, institutions, and their systems for a substantial social work field practicum.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.215-222
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• 2019

Muscle dysfunction may arise from skeletal muscle atrophy caused by aging, injury, oxidative stress, and hereditary disease. Powdered heat-killed Enterococcus faecalis (EF-2001) has anti-allergy, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor effects. However, its antioxidant and anti-atrophy effects are poorly characterized. In this study, we examined the effects of EF-2001 on muscle atrophy. To determine the protective effect of EF-2001 on oxidative stress, C2C12 myoblasts were treated with $H_2O_2$ to induce oxidative stress. This induced cell damage, which was reduced by treatment with EF-2001. The mechanism of EF-2001's effect was examined in response to oxidative stress. Treatment with EF-2001 reversed the expression of HSP70 and SOD1 proteins. Also, mRNA levels of Atrogin-1/MAFbx and MuRF1 increased under oxidative stress conditions but decreased following EF-2001 treatment. To evaluate muscle volume, two and three dimensional models of the muscles were analyzed using micro-CT. As expected, muscle volume decreased after sciatic denervation and recovered after oral administration of EF-2001. Therefore, EF-2001 is a candidate for the treatment of muscular atrophy, and future discovery of the additional effects of EF-2001 may yield further applications as a functional food with useful activities in various fields.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2019

This study investigated the quality changes in whole super sweet corn during thermal processing to extend its shelf-life. To minimize the reduction of unique texture of whole sweet corn after the sterilization, the alcohol sanitation applied and the cold point of a whole corn ear was determined using a computer simulation. The cold point was located between the corn kernel and the cob. The microorganisms on the surface of sweet corn were reduced by more than 1 log CFU/g after alcohol sanitation, then the whole corn was treated to satisfy the degree of sterilization ($F_{121.1}=4$). The quality of sterilized sweet corn was compared with the control that was treated with steaming. The quality changes of sterilized sweet corn during storage were monitored for 9 months at $25^{\circ}C$. The hardness was maintained within 30% of its initial value. The minimum of hardness was $464.50{\pm}103.35g$ and maximum of hardness was $514.50{\pm}81.83g$. The differences in the sugar content among the samples were found, but the sugar content of corn kernel remained within 30% of the control, ranging from $28.83{\pm}1.05$ to $34.36{\pm}0.42%$. The yellowness was higher than that of control by 5%. The maximum value of yellowness was $34.36{\pm}0.42$. The general bacteria and molds and yeasts in corn kernel stored at $25^{\circ}C$ were not detected after 9 months of storage at $25^{\circ}C$. Therefore, in this study, we have demonstrated that the thermal sterilized method extends the shelf-life of whole sweet corn with minimizing its quality changes over 6 months in room temperature.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.124-136
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• 2019

Orthodontic treatment is more complicated when both soft and hard tissues must be considered because an impacted maxillary canine has important effects on function and esthetics. Compared with extraction of impacted maxillary canines, exposure followed by orthodontic traction can improve esthetics and better protect the patient's teeth and alveolar bone. Therefore, in order to achieve desirable tooth movement with minimal unexpected complications, a precise diagnosis is indispensable to establish an effective and efficient force system. In this report, we describe the case of a 31-year-old patient who had a labio-palatal horizontally impacted maxillary left canine with a severe occlusal alveolar bone defect and a missing maxillary left first premolar. Herein, with the aid of three-dimensional imaging, sequential traction was performed with a three-directional force device that finally achieved acceptable occlusion by bringing the horizontally impacted maxillary left canine into alignment. The maxillary left canine had normal gingival contours and was surrounded by a substantial amount of regenerated alveolar bone. The 1-year follow-up stability assessment demonstrated that the esthetic and functional outcomes were successful.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.265-271
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• 2019

In general, specific gravity (SG) and urinary creatinine (CR) have been used to adjust urinary cadmium (Cd) concentrations. However, the validity of correction methods has been controversial. We compared the two adjustments to evaluate associations between urinary Cd and various renal damage markers and to evaluate the relationship between urinary Cd concentration and renal disease markers, such as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), in a relatively large general population sample. Among the 1,086 volunteers who were enrolled in this study, 862 healthy volunteers who did not have kidney disease were included in the final analysis. Urinary Cd, malondialdehyde (MDA), and N-acetyl-${\beta}$-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) concentrations were measured, the creatinine-based eGFR was calculated, and the relationships between these markers were subsequently analyzed. This study showed the use of urinary Cd concentration adjusted with SG rather than with urinary creatinine may be appropriate in studies evaluating renal function based on Cd exposure. Urinary Cd concentration adjusted with SG had a positive correlation with urinary MDA levels and a negative correlation with eGFR. This relationship was relatively stronger in women than in men. This study showed that urinary Cd level was associated with decreased eGFR in the general population, and oxidative stress was likely to act as an intermediator in this process. These results suggest that eGFR can be a very good indicator of kidney damage caused by Cd exposure in the general population.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.57-75
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• 2019

Soundscapes have the potential to help people experience the historical background and cultural traditions by the scenery of a local area and to be used as a cultural and tourism resource. This concept was first explained in detail by M. Schafer and has been developed as a new way of experiencing landscapes using various senses. This research studied the soundscape of Kyodong Island, the so-called "Island of Peace" and designed new cultural acoustic content for education and tourism. Kyodong Island is located right below the Northern Limit Line and the whole island is in the Civilian Controlled Area. The political and economic status of the island has been changed dynamically by the Korean War and the division of the country. These days, the island needs to realize the vision of the "Island of Peace" in a more creative way using local resources, including its "cold war landscape" and the natural scenery of the region. This research applied the concept of a soundscape to document the island, and to reproduce it in an artistic way. A workshop was conducted to learn concepts and techniques of soundscapes with a sound artist. Listening, recording, conducting interviews, and literature research was used to study the soundscape of the island. After that, this research reconstructed the soundscape of the island through a soundscape composition. The main theme of the composition story was the "Hope and Wish for the Harmony and Peace" to show the vision of the "Island of Peace". The initial sub-theme for the introduction part was "First Encounter with Kyodong Island" arranging the representative soundscape, which could be the first impression of the region. The second sub-theme was "War and Tension" using several soundscapes as a metaphor for the tragedy of the Korean War. The third sub-theme was "Everyday Life of Kyodong Island" which described the energy of the present day, after the wounds of the war have healed. The final sub-theme was "Harmony and Peace" using traditional music and keynote sounds of the region as a reminder of the peaceful past, before the war. The recording files were documented as two types of sound maps. One was a two-dimensional map to show the soundscapes from one point of view, and the other used the online application called "Sound Around You". The final artwork was displayed at an exhibition and uploaded on YouTube to be shared publicly. Through this project, we discovered the potential of soundscapes as a medium to preserve the history and local identity, as well as presenting a new vision. The artwork will be exhibited at historically and culturally meaningful places on the Island to utilize the underused places as local tourist attractions and educational resources.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.118-131
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• 2019

In order to provide 8K UHD contents of terrestrial broadcasting with a large capacity, the terrestrial broadcasting system has various problems such as limited bandwidth and so on. To solve these problems, UHD contents transmission technology has been actively studied, and an 8K UHD broadcasting system using terrestrial broadcasting network and communication network has been proposed. The proposed technique is to solve the limited bandwidth problem of terrestrial broadcasting network by segmenting 8K UHD contents and transmitting them to heterogeneous networks through hierarchical separation. Through the terrestrial broadcasting network, the base layer corresponding to FHD and the additional enhancement layer data for 4K UHD are transmitted, and the additional enhancement layer data corresponding to 8K UHD is transmitted through the communication network. When 8K UHD contents are provided in such a way, user can receive up to 4K UHD broadcasting by terrestrial channels, and also can receive up to 8K UHD additional communication networks. However, in order to transmit the 4K UHD contents within the allocated bit rate of the domestic terrestrial UHD broadcasting, the compression rate is increased, so a certain level of image deterioration occurs inevitably. Due to the nature of UHD contents, video quality should be considered as a top priority over other factors, so that video quality should be guaranteed even within a limited bit rate. This requires packet scheduling of content generators in the broadcasting system. Since the multiplexer sends out the packets received from the content generator in order, it is very important to make the transmission time and the transmission rate of the process from the content generator to the multiplexer constant and accurate. Therefore, we propose a variable transmission scheduler between the content generator and the multiplexer to guarantee the image quality of a certain level of UHD contents in this paper.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.111-118
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• 2019

Chest digital tomosynthesis has become a practical imaging modality because it can solve the problem of anatomy overlapping in conventional chest radiography. However, because of both limited scan angle and finite-size detector, a portion of chest cannot be represented in some or all of the projection. These bring a discontinuity in intensity across the field of view boundaries in the reconstructed slices, which we refer to as the truncation artifacts. The purpose of this study was to reduce truncation artifacts using a weighted normalization approach and to investigate the performance of this approach for our prototype chest digital tomosynthesis system. The system source-to-image distance was 1100 mm, and the center of rotation of X-ray source was located on 100 mm above the detector surface. After obtaining 41 projection views with ${\pm}20^{\circ}$ degrees, tomosynthesis slices were reconstructed with the filtered back projection algorithm. For quantitative evaluation, peak signal to noise ratio and structure similarity index values were evaluated after reconstructing reference image using simulation, and mean value of specific direction values was evaluated using real data. Simulation results showed that the peak signal to noise ratio and structure similarity index was improved respectively. In the case of the experimental results showed that the effect of artifact in the mean value of specific direction of the reconstructed image was reduced. In conclusion, the weighted normalization method improves the quality of image by reducing truncation artifacts. These results suggested that weighted normalization method could improve the image quality of chest digital tomosynthesis.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.75-85
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to understand the vegetation characteristics of ridges (Gyeongsusan-Seonunsan-Gaeipalsan) in the Seonunsan Provincial Park and to establish reference information for the management of the park in the future. We designated 62 plots with the area of $100m^2$ were installed and analyzed them to investigate the vegetation characteristics. The results of community classification based on TWINSPAN showed seven categories of vegetation communities in the surveyed region: Quercus dentata-Deciduous broad-leaved Community, Quercus variabilis-Pinus thunbergii-Quercus serrata Community, Pinus densiflora Community, Deciduous broad-leaved Community-I, Carpinus tschonoskii-Castanea crenata-Quercus aliena Community, Deciduous broad-leaved Community-II, and Carpinus tschonoskii-Carpinus laxiflora Community. In the vegetation of Seonunsan Provincial Park, coniferous trees such as Pinus thunbergii and Pinus densiflora have been gradually losing their population as part of ecological succession to deciduous broad-leaved trees such as Quercus spp., Carpinus tschonoskii, and Carpinus laxiflora. Moreover, Carpinus turczaninowii, Mallotus japonicus, and others were identified as vegetation reflecting the geographical characteristics of the region neighboring the west coast. The estimated age is 30-60 years, and the oldest tree Pinus densiflora is 63-years old. The index of diversity ($100m^2$) was 0.7942 for Carpinus tschonoskii-Carpinus laxiflora Community, 0.8406 for Carpinus tschonoskii-Castanea crenata-Quercus aliena Community, 0.8543 for Quercus dentata-Deciduous broad-leaved Community, 0.9434 for Quercus variabilis-Pinus thunbergii-Quercus serrata Community, 0.9520 for Deciduous broad-leaved Community-I, 0.9633 for Pinus densiflora Community, and 1.0340 for Deciduous broad-leaved Community-II in the ascending order.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.537-544
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• 2019

Genome editing technology employing gene scissors has generated interest in molecular breeding in various fields, and the development of the third-generation gene scissors of the clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) system has accelerated the field of molecular breeding through genome editing. In this study, we analyzed the possibility of silkworm molecular breeding using gene scissors by genomic and phenotypic analysis after editing the biogenesis of lysosome-related organelles (BmBLOS) gene of Bakokjam using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Three types of guide RNAs (gRNA) were synthesized based on the BmBLOS gene sequence of Bakokjam. Complexes of the prepared gRNA and Cas9 protein were formed and introduced into Bombyx mori BM-N cells by electroporation. Analysis of the gene editing efficiency by T7 endonuclease I analysis revealed that the B4N gRNA showed the best efficiency. The silkworm genome was edited by microinjecting the Cas9/B4N gRNA complex into silkworm early embryos and raising the silkworms after hatching. The hatching rate was as low as 18%, but the incidence of mutation was over 40%. In addition, phenotypic changes were observed in about 70% of the G0 generation silkworms. Sequence analysis showed that the BmBLOS gene appeared to be a heterozygote carrying the wild-type and mutation in most individuals, and the genotype of the BmBLOS gene was also different in all individuals. These results suggest that although the possibility of silkworm molecular breeding using the CRISPR/Cas9 system would be very high, continued research on breeding and screening methods will be necessary to improve gene editing efficiency and to obtain homozygotes.